The Hobbit (Dec 14, 2012/Dec 13, 2013/Dec 16, 2014)

[Rulke]

Jacokson's LOTR changes really didn't bother me too much. I mean I could get all geeky and nit pick em, but who couldn't? However, on thinig I am really hoping for Battle of 5 Armies is

Spoiler: show

keeping with the book and that Bilbo basically naps through the whole thing :D

[6souls]

http://geektyrant.com/storage/2011-p...odaymovie.jpeg

[6souls]

http://geektyrant.com/storage/2011-p...hehobbit8.jpeg

[Rulke]

^ Nice.

I don't want too many spoilery pics, but that's a might good one.

Still debating if I want any Smog spoiler images or not..

[Guyverarmor]

Dear god I came when I saw that picture.

[Cichy]

Loving this shit, cant wait

[Laugana]

That is an awesome promo pic.

[6souls]

http://geektyrant.com/storage/2011-p...the-hobbit.jpg

[6souls]

http://geektyrant.com/storage/2011-p...es/105669.jpeg

Peter Jackson is currently in the middle of shooting his two Hobbit films, but the cast continues to grow with the addition of actor Billy Connolly. He will take on the role of the great dwarf warrior Dain Ironfoot, who is a cousin of Thorin Oakenshield. Jackson had this to say in a statement:

We could not think of a more fitting actor to play Dain Ironfoot, the staunchest and toughest of Dwarves, than Billy Connolly, the Big Yin himself. With Billy stepping into this role, the cast of The Hobbit is now complete. We can’t wait to see him on the Battlefield!

Connolly is an awesome choice to take on this role, the guy is just a hard old tough-as-nails badass. For those of you not familiar with the man's work, he's been in films such as The Last Samurai, Boondock Saints, and X-Files: I Want to Believe. He's perfect for the role of Dain Ironfoot.

http://geektyrant.com/news/2012/2/8/...he-hobbit.html
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...s%7CLatestNews

[Qalbert]

Il Duce!

[Cail]

fucking awesome..this keeps getting better and better

[Rulke]

WHAT? This hasn't been posted yet? 6souls, I am dissapoint!

[-Zer0-]

Il Duce!

And shepherds we shall be!

[BadKarma]

And shepherds we shall be!

For thee my Lord, For thee

[Nekonaruto]

For thee my Lord, For thee

Power hath descended forth from thy hand

Also, CAN IT BE DECEMBER ALREADY?

[6souls]

http://geektyrant.com/storage/0999-p...aug422012.jpeg

I paused at what looked like an image of a double-bitted medieval hatchet. "That's Smaug," del Toro said. It was an overhead view: "See, he's like a flying axe." Del Toro thinks that monsters should appear transformed when viewed from a fresh angle, lest the audience lose a sense of awe. Defining silhouettes is the first step in good monster design, he said. "Then you start playing with movement. The next element of design is color. And then finally-finally-comes detail. A lot of people go the other way, and just pile up a lot of detail.

I turned to a lateral image of the dragon. Smaug's body, as del Toro had imagined it, was unusually long and thin. The bones of its wings were articulated on the dorsal side, giving the creature a slithery softness across its belly. "It's a little bit more like a snake," he said. I thought of his big Russian painting. Del Toro had written that the beast would alight "like a water bird."

Smaug's front legs looked disproportionately small, like those of a T. rex. This would allow the dragon to assume a different aspect in closeup: the camera could capture "hand" gestures and facial expressions in one tight frame, avoiding the quivery distractions of wings and tail. (Smaug is a voluble, manipulative dragon; Tolkien describes him as having "an overwhelming personality.") Smaug's eyes, del Toro added, were "going to be sculpturally very hidden." This would create a sense of drama when the thieving Bilbo stirs the beast from slumber.

Del Toro wanted to be creative with the wing placement. "Dragon design can be broken into essentially two species," he explained at one point. Most had wings attached to the forelimbs. "The only other variation is the anatomically incorrect variation of the six-appendage creature"-four legs, like a horse, with two additional winged arms. "But there's no large creature on earth that has six appendages!" He had become frustrated while sketching dragons that followed these schemes. The journal had a discarded prototype. "Now, that's a dragon you've seen before," he said. "I just added these samurai legs. That doesn't work for me.

[Silenka]

That's weird. Almost all European-style dragons are the 6-limbed type the designer doesn't like.
He completely ignores Chinese dragons, which usually have 4 legs and don't have wings at all.
In fact, I've really hardly ever seen the type he's creating, despite it making the most biological sense.

Biologically, birds, bats and flying dinosaurs all adhere to the 'two wing/arm, two hindleg' appendage format, and I guess it makes sense that he'd create a dragon with that format, assuming he's trying to make something fantastical yet 'realistic'. I think it's an odd choice though - nothing creature-wise in Middle Earth even so much as attempts to be realistic (see: spiders so big they would immediately collapse on themselves). The 4-leg 2-wing format is much more recognizable as a 'real dragon' as a staple fantasy creature in my opinion.

I'm looking forward to seeing this Smaug though.

[Senji]

That entire passage is about his journal and over a year old. GDT is off the project.

He spouted a lot of crap:

Even the major characters of “The Hobbit” bore del Toro’s watermark. In one sketch, the dwarf Thorin, depicted in battle, wore a surreal helmet that appeared to be sprouting antlers. “They’re thorns—his name is Thorin, after all,” he said.

Whereas Jackson’s compositions had been framed by the azure New Zealand sky, del Toro planned to employ digital “sky replacement,” for a more “painterly effect.” Sometimes, instead of shooting in an actual forest, he wanted to shoot amid artificial trees that mimicked the “drawings in Tolkien’s book.”

Sometimes, instead of shooting in an actual forest, he wanted to shoot amid artificial trees that mimicked the “drawings in Tolkien’s book.”

In his journal, I spied many creatures with no precedent in Tolkien, such as an armor-plated troll that curls into a ball of metal plates.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...urrentPage=all

Spoiler: show

[Silenka]

Oh. Well then.

Glad he's not on it. I liked Pan's Labyrinth, but I would not accept that kind of shit in The Hobbit and I'm sure no one else would, either.

[Senji]

Watched Wrath of the Titans in 3D. More importantly; saw the Hobbit trailer in 3D. Flawless.

Couldn't even see the layering outside of the still type shots at the beginning of the song in Bilbo's house. Sold.